Autographic register



I. Q. SHERMAN,

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1916.

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To all whom it may concern oni: "SHERMAN, or mnz'roiw, onto, Assrcmonmo 'rnn s'rnn'nnnn nincrs'mn con- PM, 01 IIIDAY'L'OIISI', 01110, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

iBe it knownthat I, JOHN Q. SHERMAN, a

citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city of Dayton, in the county of Mont- I gomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Autographic Registers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing,I forming. part of this specification.

y invention relates to improvements in autographic registers for making duplicate written copies of transactions, particularly for use for bills of lading and sales slips and the like in which each of the copies is printed with lines or other printed matter where it is desired to maintain an accurate and perfect registration of the printed matter and the lines of entry as the strips are fed from the machine. It has been found impossible to maintain accurate and perfect registration for a plurality of duplicate strips where the strips are mounted in rolls and fed in clamped relation from the machine to be severed or stored in the machine as may be desired.

It has been supposed that the failure of registration of the undermost strips with reference to the top sheet was due to maccuracy of feed, and this to a certain extent fed without slipping, they were bound to be kept in registration.

Notwithstanding all efforts, however, to prevent slipping, it is found that registration cannot be maintained.

1 have discovered that one reason for this failure is inherent in the paper material as well as in the devices for feeding the same. The paper strips are printed with lines and other printed matter upon wide sheets of paper run through the press so that a plurality of forms are simultaneously printed,

and then the wide sheet is slit into the Specification of Letters Patent;

1 sme a-names.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

' Application filed Mayio, 1916i serial 1r .-9e,471.

widths desired and the. several strips mounted in the register;

The paper sheet, however, upon which the printing and lining is done, is to a certain extent elastic. In running through the press it will be longer on one edge than on the other, and there will be a sagging at some portions of the sheet, and the sheet will be taut at other portions. While the punches and type in any form of press are in exact alinement and the punches and lines the same distance apart, when the punching is performed on a flat surface, the punching and printing is done as a unit and after one ticket or slip is printed and punched, the throw of the press will cause inaccuracy for the next slip, that is to say, the sag or tautness between each slip as it is impressed will cause a variation in distance between the next series of openings and the first set. With a cylinder press and punching 'necha nism the variation in distance of the openings and the lines will be apt to occur at any point in the" series and not merely between each series. It results from this, that, al

though the lines are printed accurately,

when the strips are matched up in the register for copies, as the strips are unwound, no matter how securely they are held together to prevent slipping, proper registration cannot be maintained.

What is required, therefore, to obtain a proper registration throughout a g series of printed slips which have been superimposed on each other and printed with lines which it is desired to maintain always in accurate alineinent, is to recognize that the difficulty experienced is due not only to inaccuracy of feed, but to the character of the paper material, and as each set of tickets or slips are severed, to arrange fora readjustment during the feeding operation.

As the first set of slips are severed, the lower end of the strips will be slightly out of register, and to prevent this slight error from accumulating, so that in a very short length the strips are entirely out of register, it is necessary to adjust for each separate operation.

It is the object of my invention to provide means for accomplishing this adjustment of the slips between each operation, and I have applied my invention to the type of register such as is shown, for example, in the Schirmer Patent No. 940,481 013 Npvember 16, 1909, wherein the taperedffeeding pins readily enter the holes in the paper ut in which no looseness of the paper on the pins, once enga ement is made, is provided for.

In the rawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my 1mproved register, partly n section.

, Fig. 2 is a top plan vlew of one corner of the register. a

Fig. 3 is a perspective V ew, much. enlarged, illustrating themethod of feeding the strips.

Fig. 4 is a detail side view of one of the feeding pins illustrating the ad ustment of the strips.

.Fig. 5 is a detail, much enlarged, of one edge of the paper strips showing the openings in the superimposed strips out of alinement.

.The register consists of the usual case 1, with top plate 2, under which the paper strips from the three rolls 3, 4c and 5 are fed over the writing tablet with carbon paper interposed between the strips for duplicate copies. The method of feeding the paper is by means of a pairof sprocket wheels 6.'at the edges of the strips, mounted on the shaft 7 journaled in the casing and rotated by the crank handle 8. The two sprocket wheels are provided with he pins 9, spaced around the periphery of the wheels withthe pins preferably of conical or slightlycomcal shape.

The paper for use in the machine is especially prepared by punching or cutting the holes 12 at uniform distances apart, and with the holes or openings along each side of each strip in exact alinement with, each other. The holes are formed at the same time that the strips are printed with the lines and printing matter, and the l1ne and holes must be printed with accurate unlformity. The pins 9 are spaced on,the (iISlIS to correspond with the holes, and to carry out my invention it is necessary that the diameter of the holes or openings in the paper strips shall be considerably greater than the diameter of the pins. In other words, the pins must fit very loosely in the openings. The cover plate 2 which covers the paper strips 13, 14 and 15 and keeps them 1n contact with the feeding pins, is provided with a raised segmental portion 16, leaving free space 17 for the passage of the pins; while at the same time the cover plate extending over the strips holds them in contact with the feeding pins, but only loosely in contact. When the desired length of strip and duplicatecopies has been fed from the machine, they are torn off against the front edge 18 of the cover plate, or a separate fixed blade secured to the casing can be used for tearing off the strips. There is no tension, however, on the paper strips other than such as is necessary to hold them in contact with the sprocket wheels either during the feeding operation or while they are being torn off against the touring edge 18. The reason for this is that it it essential that with each operation of the machine, the

' strips may adjust themselves while they are being fed. 7

Instead of a roller feed, or a feed of gripping fingers, or even a sprocket wheel feed with the sprocket pins fitting tightly in the openings prepared for them in the paper strips, the paper is fed forward by the position and tapping them on a table or support. The essential. feature of my invention con:

sists in this loose feeding of the paper strips by pushing against them at the forward edge of the respective holes, as the wheels with the projecting pins are rotated.

. The error in registration of the lines on the respective superimposed strips is of course very slight for the length of the single slips or tickets when they are severed from the web. But unless provision is made for adjustment during the forward feed of the paper during the next succeeding operation, the error at the commencement of the operation accumulates, and the essential feature of my discovery resides in the recognition of the necessity of readjustment for alinement purposes during each feeding operation, and the construction devised to accomplish this result is to provide the openings in the/strips of larger diameter than the diameter of the feeding pins, and then to arrange for a loose contact between the respective webs so that the pins as they advance and enter the openings will shift the paper slightly to bring the holes in exact- Y alinement. This correction of the error for each particular slip as the feed progresses, enables me to produce a register in which perfect alinement can be maintained throughout the entire length of the respective webs of paper,

and it will be noted in this connection that these webs are frequently two hundred or three hundred feet or more in length.

It is not of the essence of the invention that the holes should be circular andthe feeding pins cylindrical, because some other shape of opening with pins to correspond would apparently accomplish the same result, but it is preferable to provide circular openings, as the pins can more readily enter and withdraw from circular holes.

By diameter in the claims that follow,

the dimension referred to is the cross sectional dimension of the pins in the direction of the feed, and this is the case also for the holes in the paper. It is the diameter extending in the direction of the feed that is referred to.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an autographic register, a feeding mechanism for the superimposed paper strips, comprising a plurality of series of radial pins, and means for rotatin them to engage in successive corresponding y spaced openings in the paper strips, said openings being of substantially larger diameter than the diameter of the pins, whereby the registration of the openings may be continuously maintained as the strips are fed.

2. In an autographic register, a feeding mechanism for the superimposed paper strips, comprising a plurality of series of uniformly spaced radial pins, and means for rotating them to engage in successive correspondingly uniformly spaced openings in the paper strips, said openings being of substantially larger diameter than the diameter of the pins, whereby the registration of the openings may be continuously maintained as the strips are fed.

3. In an autographic register, a feeding ,mechanism for the superimposed paper strips, comprising a plurality of series of radial pins, and means for rotatin them to engage insuccessive corresponding y spaced openings in the paper strips, sai openings being of substantially larger diameter than the diameter of'the pins, with the superimposed paper strips in loose contact with each other, and means for maintaining their engagement with the pins.

4. In an autographic register, a feeding mechanism for the superimposed paper strips, comprising a plurality of series of uni ormly spaced radial pins, and means for rotating them to engage insuccessive correspondingly uniformly spaced openings in the paper strips, said openings being of substantially larger diameter than the diameter of the pins, with the superimposed paper strips in loose contact with each other, and means for maintaining their engagement with the pins.

5. In a machine of the character described, means for feeding a plurality of webs of paper having corresponding series of holes therein, comprising means for pulling said webs of paper in registry with each other, for duplicate writing past a writing point comprising a rotary actuated element provided with tapering pins having a base of substantially smaller gage than the holes in the webs.

6. In a machine for making duplicate copies on a plurality of webs of paper having corresponding series of holes therein, a

feeding sprocket for pulling said webs past a working point having sprocket pins adap ed to loosely engage at all points in the holes in the webs.

7. In a machine of the character described, a plurality of webs of paper having corresponding series of holes therein, and a feed ing sprocket for said webs having sprocket pins tapering to a blunt point and having a 1base of substantially less diameter than the 8. In a machine of the character described, means for feeding a plurality of webs of paper having corresponding series of holes alongv the side margins thereof, comprising a pair of jointly operated sprockets for feedin the webs, located marginally of the webs, having sprocket pins of substantially less diameter than the holes in the paper, and adapted to successively engage the holes.

9. In a machine for making duplicate copies on a plurality of webs of paper, said webs printed alike, and havin perforations therein spaced exactly with t e printing, a feeding sprocket for pulling said webs past a working point having sprocket pins adapted to loosely engage at all. points in the holes in the webs.

JOHN Q. SHERMAN. 

